So DdlR is awesome

Last weekend, I popped down to Chicago for C2E2 (Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo) to sell my crafty wares. Therein, alongside playing Cards Against Humanity with the guys who created Cards Against Humanity, purchasing about 70 issues of Green Arrow, and getting my first wholesale order from a clothing shop, I was able to drop into Forteza Fitness for a Bartitsu class with our own DdlR.
Anyways, it's always good to meet another bully, as well as to train in something unusual. We had a good discussion on the tight-rope that any historical martial art walks between being a good martial art and being a good historical record. Most TMA get around this through the power of willful blindness, and just assuming that Baguazhang or whatever is the platonic ideal of a fighting system and any changes would be to it's detriment.
Anyways, I was glad to see they weren't doing this with the Bartitsu.
Also, cane fighting. Really, really fun. My main impression of it was "kinda like fighting with a sword, kinda not." I seem to be undergoing this bizarre metamorphosis from being a grappler to being a weapons guy. Maybe next I'll take up horse-archery.
So yeah, if any of you are in Chicago, you should check it out.

The fool thinks himself immortal,
If he hold back from battle;
But old age will grant him no truce,
Even if spears spare him.

Thanks, McClaw. Likewise, you were a model "visiting martial artist" and my guys enjoyed training with you - let's keep in touch re. bringing some Bartitsu to Ann Arbor.

Originally Posted by TheMightyMcClaw

Anyways, it's always good to meet another bully, as well as to train in something unusual. We had a good discussion on the tight-rope that any historical martial art walks between being a good martial art and being a good historical record. Most TMA get around this through the power of willful blindness, and just assuming that Baguazhang or whatever is the platonic ideal of a fighting system and any changes would be to it's detriment.
Anyways, I was glad to see they weren't doing this with the Bartitsu.

Yep. The gist of it is that, if the overriding purpose of the Bartitsu revival is to continue the work-in-progress that Barton-Wright basically abandoned back in 1902, you have to commit to some levels of deliberate anachronism, or the whole exercise quickly turns into a reinvention of MMA/Dog Brothers. At the same time, you can only continue the work-in-progress by experimenting and pressure testing (sparring, etc.), so some levels of change are inevitable and desirable.

And I will def be in touch about doing a Seminar in Ann Arbor. Between my contacts in the martial arts community and in the steampunk community, I can probably think of about half a million people who want to attend.

The fool thinks himself immortal,
If he hold back from battle;
But old age will grant him no truce,
Even if spears spare him.